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Elon Musk to receive 2019 Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication
Elon Musk has been selected as one of the recipients of the 2019 Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication, an award created in honor of the legendary theoretical physicist for individuals who promote the public awareness of science. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO will be receiving the Stephen Hawking medal at the Starmus Festival this coming June in Zurich, Switzerland.
The Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication is a prestigious award in the scientific community, having been introduced back in 2015 at the Royal Society in London by a panel including the theoretical physicist himself. The medal honors individuals from three communities: the scientific community, the artistic community, and the film community. When he personally presented the medals at the Starmus Festival in June 2016, Hawking noted that the award “matters to me, to you, to the world as a whole.”
Elon Musk will be receiving the Stephen Hawking medal for the scientific community for his “astounding accomplishments in space travel and for humanity,” according to Starmus in a press release. Starmus founding member and PhD astrophysicist Brian May will be personally presenting the medal to Musk, who has been described by noted evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins as a “hero for our times.”
Other recipients of the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication this year are musician Brian Eno for his contribution to the popularisation of science, as well as Todd Douglas Miller’s documentary Apollo 11, which provides a “breakthrough look” at the mission that brought man to the Moon.
The upcoming Starmus Festival is expected to be graced by some of the scientific community’s most prolific individuals. Educator Bill Nye will be the host of the ceremonies, and other notable individuals such as Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins and six other Apollo mission astronauts will be in attendance. Sir Michael Hintze, founder and Group Executive Chairman of asset management firm CQS and one of the supporters on Starmus, shared his excitement for this year’s awards.
“I am excited about our support for Starmus and the 2019 Stephen Hawking Medal. It is enabling us to better understand the origins and fate of our universe, where we have come from and where we might go. It is about intellectual curiosity, striving for knowledge and a journey of discovery about our planet and our place in the universe. For science to grow and prosper we must excite and engage with our youth, and capture their imagination. The work being done here connects into the global scientific community and facilitates global collaboration,” he said.
This year’s awards are the first to be given since the death of Stephen Hawking, who personally invited Musk to Starmus prior to his passing. Starmus noted that this year’s awards are dedicated to the legacy of Hawking, and they are given in recognition of his affinity for applied technology.
Elon Musk is a polarizing figure in mainstream media today partly due to his celebrity CEO status and the public nature of his electric car and energy company, Tesla. Nevertheless, Musk has received numerous accolades over the years. Just this past January, Musk was dubbed as “Disruptor of the Year” for making the most ripples in the auto industry. Last year, Musk was also named as one of 2018’s best CEOs by Tesla and SpaceX employees, most likely due to his bold, hands-on leadership style.
During the days of the Model 3 ramp, for example, Musk courted some headlines after he was sighted torquing bolts with Tesla’s workers during the rapid buildout of GA4. Musk also reportedly uses himself as Autopilot’s primary test subject, running aggressive test versions of the driver-assist system to check for bugs and the limits of the system’s capabilities. A member of Tesla’s Autopilot team previously noted that this has resulted in Musk finding himself in “situations that many of us wouldn’t want to be in.”
Featured
Tesla Cybercab is coming to Asia this month as US service officially begins
Tesla Asia says Cybercab will be on display in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai this month.
Tesla’s Cybercab is heading to Asia. The official Tesla Asia account posted on X Thursday, inviting Cybercab fans to “Come experience the future of autonomy in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing & Shanghai.” The post went up within hours of Tesla’s own Cybercab milestone in Texas, where the company said Thursday it had begun offering rides in across Austin.
Exact dates and venues for the Asia tour haven’t been released yet, though Tesla Hong Kong replied to the announcement with “Cybercab will be on display in Hong Kong soon,” while Tesla Japan’s response pointed fans to a sign up page for updates. Neither post mentions test rides or a service area, and nothing so far suggests Tesla is launching Robotaxi operations in any of the four cities. Based on how Tesla has run past Cybercab tours, in Europe in late 2024 and at US shopping centers that same December, the Asia stops are almost certainly static displays at Tesla stores or public venues as a means to stimulate buzz for its future driverless ride-hailing service in the big cities.
Cybercab will be on display in Asia this month!
Come experience the future of autonomy in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing & Shanghai. pic.twitter.com/wGmmEastfX— Tesla Asia (@Tesla_Asia) September 4, 2026
The timing lines up with Tesla’s only prior Cybercab appearance in the region, a booth at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai last November, which Teslarati covered at the time. At that event, Tesla’s regional general manager for Shanghai framed the car as evidence of the company’s broader mission, a message Tesla has since formalized in its Master Plan Part IV, which states that “autonomous vehicles have the capacity to dramatically improve the affordability, availability and safety of transportation while reducing pollution, particularly in our increasingly dense global cities.” The same document is where Tesla lays out its “sustainable abundance” framing for Cybercab and Optimus alike, describing the two as the hardware behind an AI driven push to cut the cost of transportation and labor at scale.
Whether Cybercab actually operates as a robotaxi anywhere in Asia remains an open question, considering China has already pushed an autonomous ride-hailing market that’s run on homegrown players like Baidu’s Apollo Go and Pony AI. For now, the four city tour reads as a marketing push timed to Austin’s momentum.
Lifestyle
Tesla Cybertruck targets job site crews with new Tailgate Utility Track and Bed Gear Box accessory
Tesla launched a $350 tailgate track and a $985 lockable Bed Gear Box for Cybertruck.
Tesla’s Cybertruck team added two more items to the Tesla Shop, targeting job site crews and owners who use the truck bed for actual work rather than just showing it off. The official Cybertruck X account posted the Tailgate Utility Track and the Bed Gear Box within minutes of each other, part of a five item batch that also included a reflective jacket, a spray paint hat and an updated reflective tee.
The Tailgate Utility Track runs $350 and turns the folded down tailgate into another mounting surface. It’s a single aluminum track with a T-slot for sliding accessories and two L-track attachment points, plus two load stops included in the box. The pitch is straightforward: strap down oversized cargo, like lumber or a cooler, that hangs off the back of the bed without it sliding out mid-drive. It bolts onto the existing tailgate and works on every Cybertruck trim.
Tailgate Utility Trackhttps://t.co/PCAYXlFBvS pic.twitter.com/sCV2NVxf1W
— Cybertruck (@cybertruck) September 3, 2026
The Bed Gear Box costs $985 and is a different kind of accessory. It’s a lockable aluminum storage box, 55.78 inches long, 19.8 inches wide and 7.79 inches tall, that mounts to the bed’s L-track rails and comes with two internal bins for smaller items. According to Tesla, at just over 57 pounds empty, it’s meant to stay in place rather than come in and out with each trip, giving owners a factory-fit alternative to loose totes for tools, recovery gear or emergency supplies. Tesla’s listing notes that Long Range and Dual Motor AWD Cybertrucks need the L-Tracks accessory installed separately before the Gear Box will mount, since L-tracks come standard only on certain configurations.
Tesla Cybertruck bed gear box accessory
Both accessories lean on the idea Tesla has been building toward since Elon Musk first described the Cybertruck’s third-party attachment strategy at the 2023 shareholder meeting, when he said the truck would ship with mounting points so outside companies, and Tesla itself, could keep adding gear without redesigning the bed. That’s the same L-track backbone underneath the tailgate shield and jumpseats Tesla launched last year, and the off-road armor package that arrived through the same X account in 2025.
Owners looking to round out the rest of the L-track ecosystem, cargo dividers, MOLLE panels, bed racks and similar gear, can find a wider range of options through our Cybertruck accessories collection.
Tesla Cybercab rides are officially open to the public in Austin, Texas, as the company confirmed on Thursday following its launch event that the two-seater would be available in the company’s Robotaxi fleet.
Cybercab is Tesla’s first vehicle completely void of any manual controls. It has no steering wheel and no pedals, and it will utilize Tesla’s Full Self-Driving fleet to operate. The first rides have already happened, as those at the event were able to hail a Cybercab to any location within the company’s geofence in Austin.
Tesla’s $25K car is the Cybercab with no steering wheel or pedals
The addition of Cybercab to the public Robotaxi fleet is a major statement in Tesla’s trek to launch fully autonomous driving. For years, critics have complained about the need for drivers to continuously supervise the vehicle.
With Cybercab, there are no manual controls in the cockpit other than to control the seat, the center screen, and the climate. The vehicle is fully geared toward being a living room on wheels in a sense: equipped with Starlink V5 satellites, CEO Elon Musk said the vehicle would enable 4K live video, gaming, and other entertainment options during travel.
Cybercab is basically a super comfortable lounge on wheels with a great TV and epic sound https://t.co/X1aWKoJdJV
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 3, 2026
Musk noted that Cybercab is “designed and built for maximally efficient autonomous operation.”
Tesla continues to push the envelope on autonomy, and over the next several months, the company could start selling Cybercab units to the public.
The company opened up a public interest form on its website to gauge demand, and many have already submitted requests to purchase a fleet of Cybercab units for their own personal ride-hailing side hustle.
The launch of Cybercab in this area marks a major accomplishment for Tesla, as it also announced that it has reached 1 million unsupervised autonomous miles since launching driverless rides on the Robotaxi fleet.
Things are moving along at a fine pace, and although we have waited for this for some time, the day has finally come when Tesla is offering self-driving rides of some kind to the public.
Tesla Cybercab is coming to Asia this month as US service officially begins
Tesla Cybertruck targets job site crews with new Tailgate Utility Track and Bed Gear Box accessory
